A trip to Riccarton Park next month for the $350,000 Southern Alps Challenge (1600m) is already locked in for Our Approval (NZ) (Ghibellines), and his stablemate Cherryville (NZ) (Ghibellines will aim to earn a place of his own at Wingatui on Friday.
The pair are trained locally by Brian and Shane Anderton, with Our Approval gaining his place in the lucrative feature after a game third behind Maximus Augustus in the $200,000 ODT Southern Mile Final (1600m) earlier this month.
Cherryville hasn’t been seen on raceday since defeating Iffididit to win at Wingatui in early February, his third success in just 15 starts. The son of Ghibellines will carry the topweight of 59kg under Courtney Barnes, a former Anderton apprentice who will ride a number of the stable’s runners.
“He’s done well, he’s gone up another grade and we’re happy with him,” Brian Anderton said.
“The other horse (Our Approval) is a very good horse in the making, we have a high opinion of him and he’s still quite immature, he has very patient owners. We were aiming for the ODT race because if you place, you automatically earn a spot in the Southern Alps.
“It’s a lot of money, you wouldn’t turn that down. We would definitely take both if he (Cherryville) qualified and we’re hoping for a good run from the two of them on Friday.”
Chupalla (NZ) (Per Incanto), Afire (NZ) (Ghibellines, Moor (NZ) (Per Incanto) and De Pazzi (NZ) (Almanzor) provide the Andertons with a strong hand in the Nellies Restaurant and Bar MDN (1400m), with the latter a four-year-old mare that was withdrawn from White Robe Lodge’s draft at the Karaka Yearling Sales in 2022.
Brian Anderton alongside his brother and a friend retained the daughter of Almanzor, who will have her first start on Friday with an interesting spin behind her name.
“We’ve got a horse called De Pazzi having her first start, my brother Hec, Eric Parr and I own her,” he said.
“She was named after a sister that taught us at St Mary’s, she was a really growly old mug. We had previously called another horse De Montfort after another sister, she was from the same family and a very good horse.”
Another aiming to break maiden status will be No Party (NZ) (Proisir), a gelding by Proisir who only narrowly missed on debut behind Sailor Girl at Gore earlier this month.
The three-year-old will have to contend with barrier 10 on this occasion, but Anderton anticipates there is a plenty ahead of the lightly-tried galloper.
“He’s a horse for the future, he hasn’t got the best of draws but it’ll be a good track and a long straight,” he said. “He’s done well since he raced so I expect another good run from him.”
Among the remainder of their big team of runners is Southern Country (NZ) (Tavistock), who dashed home into third behind Ali Nel at the course in mid-March, setting him up well for a step out over a mile in the Convert It MDN (1600m).
“We’ve been very patient with him and so have the owners, he’s coming to it now,” Anderton said.
“The owner would like him to a go a mile, we may have preferred to climb the ladder and go to a 1400m first, but he’s trained on well.”
Back at White Robe Lodge, the Andertons have announced the impending arrival of their new stallion Alflaila.
“We’re going well, we’ve just bought the new stallion so that’s put our sights up a bit,” Anderton said. “It will be interesting.”
